“I played on about a billion records, and that guitar was on all of them”: Steve Lukather’s Robot Strat is one of the 1980s’ most-heard guitars, and started life as a vintage Fender – before it was modded beyond all recognition

We are now into the fourth generation of Steve Lukather’s Ernie Ball Music Man line, with Luke IV defying cinematic convention by being the most thrilling instalment of the franchise. But once upon a time – let’s call it the ‘80s – the Toto guitarist and session ace was more associated with the . This was a more innocent era, when vintage were not so sacrosanct (read: expensive) and so the bold Lukather, his career in the ascendancy, modded his, swapping in EMG active pickups, giving it the whole Valley Arts makeover that was en vogue at the time.

Just before this guitar turned into The Robot Strat, it and Lukather appeared on the September 1983 cover of , and as part of our celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the Strat, we’ve been tracking down these cover stars and the players who played them. So this, you might say, is the story of The Robot Strat, how it started, and how it’s going. “It would have been the late ’70s.

I don’t remember where I got it – not Norm’s [ ]; it would have been a wannabe Norm’s down in Studio City. I guarantee the spot doesn’t exist anymore.” “I just wanted a Strat.

[ ] It felt good, and I liked it. There wasn’t that much more to it beyond that. I had played and other guitars, and for whatever reason, I was searching for a Strat.

I came upon that ’64, and that was it.” “I did. That guitar has a massive history and looks totally different [ ] than it did on the cover.

If you remember that funny-looking gui.